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Home Travel StoriesTo The Southern Tip Of Europe

The Omnipresence Of Olive Groves

Ride Date 24 Sep 2025

By Andy Gray

Day 12: To Martin de la Jara 252 miles.

Shorter day in terms of miles but just as many smiles.

In full daylight, I could not believe the number of olive groves in the valley. From what I’ve seen, they stretch from here to Grenada and to where I’ve ended up tonight. 100s of miles of them. 
 
Left the hotel around 10am and immediately found the town had its own sign and bull statue as I exited. Descended my way through Cazorla where I stopped at the supermarket to buy some breakfast. Then wound my way through miles of olive groves for over 100km.
 
At Huesa there was an odd ridge which made me think of sharks teeth. Also spent quite a while following another Guarda Civil car but luckily he got bored and sped off.
 
At Baza, I joined the A92 motorway to speed my journey west. Stayed on for 100km until Granada. I could see the Sierra Nevadas to the south of the motorway between Guadix and Granada but didn’t have the time to include them. 

At Grenada I headed back to minor roads. There were some nice hilly, twisty roads to Alhama de Grenada and I’d stopped to take photos when three Spanish riders came past on their sporty bikes. Think they were a little shocked when I caught them up on my fully loaded BMW. It got a little silly on the valley road and I left them to it when the speeds went well past German speed limits! Especially as they didn’t seem to slow down much for villages and their 50kph limits.
 
Headed thru Sierra de Tejeda and Sierra de Chimena. Here I was only about 25km from Malaga but could not see it due to the mountains in the way. I climbed up to the village of Villanueva de la Conception where there was a bit of a queue to turn on the steep hill. I stopped to take some photos of the view and realised I had included a side road up to what I thought was a viewpoint on the mountain behind me. Turns out this went up to El Torcal Nature Reserve, the visitors centre and the most amazing geological features I think I’ve ever seen.
 
They are quite difficult to describe but they are similar to the piles of stone that people build to destroy the look of scenic places! Yes I hate those things and will quite happily knock them down. These were natural and so much nicer. On the walk from the visitors centre to the viewpoint, I spotted an Iberian wild goat on the rocks. When I drove back down the mountain, I spotted a lot more knowing they were there.
 
The “main” road wound its way down to the town of Antequera. The first sight being the Alcazaba of Antequera, the  Moorish fortress. With its nearby free campervan stopping area!

When I stopped at some lights in the town I could feel my feet slipping, the surface was polished stones and incredibly slippy. Luckily it didn’t last for long and didn’t affect the bike, probably horrendous in the wet. As I came to the edge of town there was a large arch on a roundabout and the large bullring. Tried to park nearby but was waved off by a one armed official. Did some dodgy parking on the pavement out of his sight so I could snap a couple of pictures.
 
Next I headed north through the village where I’d looked at camping but the lure of a hotel was too much! I’d found a rural hotel in the middle of olive groves which is an old house converted to 7 or 8 rooms, bar and restaurant down a 1km gravel road from the tarmac road. Very pleasant and I was told to bring my bike up onto the terrace.

A large long sign and stylised bull beside a gravel layby and mountain
The town sign where my hotel was located last night.
looking from on high we see endless folds in the land covered with olive groves into the far far distance
Olive groves everywhere.
A deer and calf design looking like origami and the town name Cazorla, again clear skies and a big mountain
Cazorla town sign.
Again spreading into the distance olive groves and mountains many miles away
More olives.
A curved hill has a crest of rocky outcrops that look like shark teeth
Shark tooth ridge.
A curve in the road, smooth tarmac, steel barriers and dry arid hardy land either side
A sample of the roads today.
Another curve, more barriers, this time jagged hillsies and dry peaks beside the road
More olive groves among more rolling hills and dry landscapes and fluffy clouds in the skies
Olives, olives everywhere.
Between steep rocky sides the road heads down to more folds in the landscape and perhaps a town in the distance
Looking south from Alhama de Granada.
A stone statue of a goat with long horns atop a pile of stones
A stone goat.
A long tall dark red signs with writing on it beside the road
Each region has its own tourist route (red route) signs.
Andy's GS parked by the road with rocky moutains behind
Realised the viewpoint road goes up the mountain behind me.
An Iberian goat with long horns stands atop rocks, outlined against the sky
Iberian goat.
Looking between valley sides is a vast scene across Spain toward Malaga but it's behind hills
Malaga is behind the hills to centre left. Torremolinos and Fuengirola on the right.
Rock formations with horizontal layers. Massive but could look like stacked stones
El Torcal.
More of the same "stacked" looking rock formations
Another view of the stacked formations of the white stone
A large fort or building above a town, the building has crenellations
Alcazaba of Antequera.
Selfie of Andy on the bike with his flip front helmet open and the spanish mountains
A spanish town centre and 3 arches across the street
Antequera.
A large white curved building, the bullring in the town
Antequera bullring.
A dry dusty track between hardy olive trees and brown grasses
The road to my hotel through the olive groves.
Andy's GS on the courtyard beside the restaurant under the trees
Bike gets pride of place.
A room with white walls and black beams, quite basic but clean and pleasant
My room.

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A long Ride to Gien Big miles already on Andy's first day on the road. He's just getting settled into the ride and making his way south through France.
Smiling In The Rain It's a soggy wet day through France for Andy, but that won't dampen his spirits. He stumbles upon 2CVs and climbing walls, straight roads and twisties.
Into The Pyrenees With improving weather Andy is still heading south. It's all terribly positive, even the diversions are opportunities to explore. The Pyrenees continue to impress.
An Easy Day Around The Pyrenees Andy is taking it easy today. Just a casual bimble around The Pyrenees, across mountains and valleys, you know, the sort of easy ride we all do on a lazy day. Ever more delightful images too.
Stuck In The Cols - Painful! Andy is enjoying all the mountain passes on the French side of The Pyrenees - until he's "Route Barre" from getting back to the campsite. He's got the sniffles too.
Poor Poorly Andy The sun is shining, the air is warm, the surroundings are lovely. Andy is rather under the weather himself, it's not the best couple of days.
Andy's Local Ride Feeling a little better Andy's having an easy day exploring The Pyrenees. Scenery aplenty while dodging some rain.
Back On The Road And Heading South Again Having mostly recovered Andy's back on the road making big miles through ever more stunning scenery. A few notes then pictures aplenty that'll make you wish you were there.
More Wonders, Weird Food It's another day filled with fabulous things for Andy. Knights and bends in the road, mountains and flat bits, and a posh hotel with a sunset.
The Omnipresence Of Olive Groves Andy's definition of a shorter ride is only 250 miles... sheesh. This time between the fabulous scenery and glorious weather it's olive groves as far as the eye can see.

Reader's Comments

nab301 said :-
Andy , that looked like a very enjoyable day, on the dusty road to the hotel you'd almost expect a Clint Eastwood character to appear!
Nigel
19/01/2026 14:25:39 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
More great pics Andy. Slippery roads - the worst I've encountered was in a small French town - can't remember the name - where the white lines / zebra crossings were like black ice in the rain (which it was when I was there). A momentary lock of the front wheel made me very cautious.

On another occasion, in another biblical downpour, I was in the Massif Centrale and again the road surface was slippier than anything I've encountered elsewhere. I had to be incredibly careful rounding the many turns and twists till I came across a little cafe where I waited for the deluge to pass.
19/01/2026 15:39:40 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
You were well sarff by now Andy.
Great piccies.
19/01/2026 17:32:42 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
You hearing echos of Ennio Morricone nab301? Andy's riding in the wild west on his steel hoss.

Polished bits of road is the thing I noticed in Spain when it comes to slippery. My thinking is without the ice to break up the tarmac in winter maybe roads last a lot longer. Mix that in with the tarmac melting in summer allowing the traffic to push down the stone and pull up the tar means the surface is smooth tar not tar and stone.
20/01/2026 08:14:58 UTC
nab301 said :-
Every days a school day Ren , but yes I now know that's the man!
Nigel
20/01/2026 12:57:59 UTC
Bros Steve said :-
Good pics and write up Andy. Looks really nice there.
21/01/2026 19:26:45 UTC

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